Low dairy intake in early childhood predicts excess body fat gain.

OBJECTIVE To estimate the effect of dairy intake in early childhood on the acquisition of body fat throughout childhood. RESEARCH METHODS AND PROCEDURES Ninety-nine of the original 106 families enrolled in the Framingham Children's Study with a child age to 6 years at baseline were followed into adolescence through yearly clinic visits and periodic data collection throughout each year. Dairy intake for these analyses was derived from a mean of 15 days of diet records per subject collected before age 6. A trained examiner took two measurements each year of height, weight, and triceps, subscapular, suprailiac, and abdominal skinfolds using a standardized protocol. Yearly change in body fat was estimated as the slope of these anthropometry measures from ages 5 to 13 years. Early adolescent body fat was estimated as the mean of all available measurements from 10 to 13 years of age. RESULTS Children in the lowest sex-specific tertile of dairy intake during preschool (i.e., <1.25 servings per day for girls and <1.70 servings per day for boys) had significantly greater gains in body fat during childhood. These children with low dairy intakes gained more than 3 additional mm of subcutaneous fat per year in the sum of four skinfold measures. By the time of early adolescence, those in the lowest tertile of dairy intake had a BMI that was approximately two units higher and an extra 25 mm of subcutaneous fat. DISCUSSION Suboptimal dairy intakes during preschool in this cohort were associated with greater gains in body fat throughout childhood.